F-16 History

When the deliveries of the Peace Bridge II order were well underway and the number of F-16 squadrons within the RoKAF already set at five with a sixth to be equipped shortly after, the need for a dedicated training squadron was felt very strongly. Up until then both the 161st and 162nd FS conducted OCU courses and conversion courses for operational fighter pilots.

Besides that, the number of F-16s in the entire inventory was rising very rapidly and the weight of the F-16 as percentage of the entire fighter force was also growing quickly. The RoKAF never had a dedicated testing platform for advanced weapons system or combat tactics. Since the F-16 was the most advanced platform of the RoKAF at that time, the Staff decided to form a squadron that could fulfil both tasks. In 1998 the 191st TDTS was formed to do this job.

The unit hasn’t got many dedicated airframes at its disposal. Only for testing purposes a number of airframes are incorporated within the squadron. For its training task, the squadron has to lent F-16s from the other operational squadrons. These airframes therefore rotate on regular bases between the different F-16 units.

RoKAF F-16C block 52 #92-005 from the 191st TDTS is coming in for landing with its brakes opened on October 21st, 2009. [Scramble photo by Marco Pennings]

Aircraft Markings History

1998 - present

The tail consists of the serial number at the bottom with 'ROKAF' titles above the year. Korean F-16s never wore any unit markings.